Thinking for himself
by LemonBubble1
Summary: Hermione is without a wand and held captive in the Slytherin Common room, how will she get out? M for possibly upsetting content. This is a lot darker than I usually write. Marking as mature to be safe. AU with an evil Zabini
1. Wandless

Trapped in the arms of Crabbe and Goyle, Hermione watched with wide eyes as Braise Zabini smiled menacingly down at her.

"Hello mudblood, out all alone in the library and at midnight at that, oooh naughty naughty." Zabini took another step closer to her, leaning in towards her face. "Can you imagine my surprise, here I am out patrolling and suddenly I find a student out of bed, and not just any student, You. What were you doing out past curfew? Sneaking into the restricted section, you could be expelled for that. I wonder what your head of house would think of this. Perfect goodie-two-shoes Granger breaking the rules."

Hermione could only glare back at him, unable to answer due to the silencing charm he had thrown at her before she had even seen them coming. She wanted to scream and tell him Professor MacGonagall would be skeptical of that story since Crabbe and Goyle were there too, but she couldn't let her know that she had been in the restricted section.

She tried to reach for her wand but Crabbe's grip on her right arm was going to cause bruises. She kicked her leg out and tugged her arms as hard as she could but no matter how much she struggled she could do nothing.

"Doesn't matter i suppose." He wasn't looking into her eyes anymore, and instead had begun to twist a stray curl that had come loose from her plait. "?" Blaise nodded towards the large boys cuing Crabbe to cast a confundus, she went limp in their arms.

* * *

Her head was pounding and vision slightly blurred as she attempted to push herself up of the cold ground leaning back on her elbows. She wasn't in the library anymore, there were no candles lit but she could make out some green furniture and the sound of water rushing in the darkness of the room. The tapestries of silver snakes on the walls told her she must be in the Slytherin Common Room. Allowing herself some time for her strength to come back she lifted herself into the sitting position.

"Ah, it's good to see you're awake," a voice whispered close behind her, Hermione spun around grabbing at her waist for her wand. "oh no, looking for this?" Zabini, squatting, swung her wand back and forth in front of her, smiling wide. She readied herself to lunge for it when he stood up and grasped the ends of it in tight fists "Uh uh uh" he tsk'd in a hushed tone "wouldn't want anything to happen to this now would you?" He began to lightly bend the wand, testing its durability. Hermione's breath caught in her throat. She watched on not daring to move so as to not provoke him. "Good... Now, you're going to play a little game and if you don't play along..." He let his sentence trail off letting her work out the implication. He handed the wand over to Crabbe, who chuckled flicking it around and pointed it at Goyle. "Stop fucking around, Crabbe...or I'll hex your balls off." Crabbe's smile fell as he shoved Hermione's wand into his pocket.

Blaise dropped down close to her, reaching out his hand towards her face, gently stroking her cheek with the back of his fingers. His calm face twisted into a cruel grin and his hand was suddenly squeezing her face roughly.

"We have to be quiet, don't want to wake anyone up now do we?" Her mouth moved to curse him but no sound came out. He didn't acknowledge it. His other hand had been slowly creeping to her thigh, now tugging at her shirt buttons. "Crabbe, you're on look out, Goyle, hold her down." Her wands safety was the least of her worries right now. She'd rather a broken wand than what they were about to do.

Hermione kicked him away with all the strength she could muster and was on her feet rushing for the portrait door, she heard Zabini groan and curse, then her body froze up, hit in the back by an immobility spell, she began to teeter backwards only to be caught by Goyle, he grabbed either side of her and pick her up, holding her at arms length. She would have been glaring at him if she were able to turn to face him.

"Now it wouldn't be fun if we didn't get to see you squirm now would it, eh Goyle? Put her on the lounge." Goyle made no indication he was even listening to Zabini, he just looked at the floor, then slowly he began to walk her over to the lounge in the corner of the common room. He laid her down, then pushed lightly on her shoulders. Zabini flicked his wand, silently casting the counter curse allowing movement back to her body. She knew there wasn't a way to kick her way out of this, this time. She didn't have her wand and her shoulders were being held down by one of the biggest boys at Hogwarts, though that didn't stop her from trying to struggle free. Pushing off the other end of the lounge, arching her back, grabbing at his wrists trying to budge them even a little. Nothing she did seemed to make any difference.

She looked up at him, he frowned and looked away. She blinked a tear from her eye and felt it race down the side of her cheek towards her ear. "Aw, don't cry, we haven't even started yet" Blaise's trousers were already open slightly and Hermione found herself breaking out into a cold sweat, he took off his school jumper, tossing it to the side as he crawled over her on the lounge. He had quickly positioned himself between her legs, leaving her no room to kick him away.

Her breathing was rapid, heart hammering in her chest. Her movements became even more erratic. Her eyes shut tight, she could feel his hands working on her shirt buttons. Silent hiccups bubbled out of her. She kicked out her legs again ferociously with all the strength she had left clumsily bumping Zabini in the side. He had nearly finished with the buttons but being jostled around was starting to piss him off. "That's starting to get annoying Granger." He said flicking his wand. He legs felt as though they had liquified.

Jelly-legs jinx.

Escaping was seemingly impossible. Her tears pouring down the sides of her face, her knuckles white from her desperate attempts at releasing herself from Goyle's hold. She screamed and pleaded to be let go, but not a single person could hear her. Zabini's mouth assaulted her neck and his hands dragged down her body, she felt sick.

"Hey! Blaise!" Crabbe's voice echoed on through the Common Room.

"Quiet. What is it?" Blaise forced himself to keep his voice low.

"Someone's coming..." Blaise was off her in an instant and had rebuttoned his pants.

"Take her somewhere" His growled, frustrated. Goyle rushed around to her side, scooping her up making sure not to get in the way of her arms should she choose to punch him the second he got close enough. He moved as fast as his legs could carry him up the stairs and to through the third door on his right. Five beds lay empty in the room. The 17 year old hesitated for a second before choosing the second last bed. Sitting her down but still holding her still.

Hermione steadied her breathing and looked around the room, in the event that he let her go for even a second she wanted a plan. The bed she was on must have been Goyle's due to it being an unmade mess, though that could easily be Crabbe's as well. She heard muffled voices who she assumed to be Zabini and whoever had just turned up, unintentionally saving her.

She could make out some words here and there 'Nott's suppose to be patrolling and I...','we were going to…', 'in the kitchen...', 'forgot my...', 'wanna come?' 'no thanks Malfoy'.

 _Malfoy_! She thought

Malfoy and who she guessed was Theodore Nott had just come back from the kitchen for something they had forgotten. This explained the five empty beds, all five boys were up and wandering the castle as they pleased, and now she was stuck in enemy territory unable to scream for help, unable to walk and with no wand to defend herself.

She spotted a broom leaning on the bedside table by the bed and a few Quidditch magazines. She could ride that broom to safety, even though she wasn't steady on a broom and it was completely against the rules to fly indoors. She was wollongong break the rules for her freedom. Even so, it was too far out of reach unless she could distract Goyle first or knock him out. There didn't seem to be anything solid enough she could pick up to knock Goyle unconscious, if given the chance she may just have to take a dive past him and hope she also avoided Zabini, Crabbe, Malfoy and Nott while hurtling through to air on a broom she's never ridden before. She eyed her captor watching as he tried to look everywhere but at her, he failed his eyes flicking up to look at her scowling face.

Finally he turned to face her fully, swallowed and whispered "Sorry, Granger."

Using his large thumb he wiped the tear stain from her face before looking down and away again. Hermione stared in disbelief at the Slytherin, she'd known him for seven years now and not once had he ever even spoken to her. The conversation down stairs had come to an end when his grip on her tightened suddenly. His brow furrowed and he seemed to be in deep thought. His head snapped back up and he pulled her off the bed, and laid her on the floor motioning for her to get under the bed. The broom was close enough to grab now. This could be her chance to escape but with Zabini lurking around she really doubted she'd get far at all, hiding was her best option and so she awkwardly dragged herself under the bed and out of sight.

Squished underneath the bed next to a stray sock and a pair of trousers she watched what she could of Goyle from the thin crack between the bed skirt and the floor. He was sitting down on the floor against the bedside table, he then began to lean forward, count back from 3 and then threw himself backwards crashing into it sending it toppling over with the broom, drawers spilling out their content and magazine scattered along the ground. Hermione jumped at the sound.

'What is he doing?' She thought. Not long after she heard someone rush up the stairs and looked on as the door flew open.

"What the fuck happened here?" She heard Zabini hiss, a second set of heavier footsteps rushed up behind him.

"Granger, she got my wand. She ran off." Goyle groaned rubbing his sore head.

"Shit, shit... Where'd she go?"

"I dunno... Threw a hex at me, fixed her legs then left."

"She got you good hahah" She heard Crabbe laugh.

"Shut up Crabbe you idiot, we don't have much time people are going to wake up because of all this commotion... what are you doing standing around? Go look for her she can't be far now. I swear you two can't do anything right. Get up Goyle!" She could almost feel Zabini's anger as he stormed of to look for her. With Crabbe and Zabini gone Goyle pushed himself of the floor and closed the bedroom door. She took this as a sign she could come out and crawled her way out from under the bed. She was quickly lifted from the ground by her arms and placed back on the bed. Goyle began pulling off her Gryffindor robes making her heart sink but then he shoved it into the trunk at the end of the bed and pulled out a Slytherin set as well as a scarf. He threw the over-sized robes over her shoulders and wrapped the scarf around her neck. He stood there bent slightly so as to be eye level with her, looking her over with a frown, his eyes widened slightly when he realised her shirt was unbuttoned quite a bit, before she even realised what had caused this reaction he was buttoning the shirt up then gave her a quick nod. He placed a finger to his lips.

"You've gotta stay quiet, got that?" her brow knitted together but was still unable to say anything due to the spell. "oh...urh right... Sorry, I forgot about that."

Now he just had to get her out of here and to the safety of her dorm.


	2. To Gryffindor Common Room

Down in the Common Room Hermione watched as sleepy Slytherins were coming out of their bedrooms trying to figure out why they had been rudely awoken in the middle of the night. She and Goyle easily slipped through the portrait unnoticed. She was strangely in a comfortable position being carried along by the large Slytherin through the cold dungeons at night she wondered why he had helped her. She was thankful of course but still she wondered, she'd have to wait until she was able to talk again to voice her question.

They had just about reached the spiral stairs when they saw a light coming from the top. Goyle froze knowing they'd be caught by the prefect or professor out on night patrol but Hermione had been out with Harry and Ron enough times for her instincts to kick in when it came to being out past curfew. She tugged on his sleeve, not able to physically move him, but caught his attention and quickly lead him to a statue's alcove hoping whoever was on duty didn't check every hiding place on their way. Hidden behind the statues base the pair held their breath as a Hufflepuff Prefect made his way down the corridor in the direction they had just come from. Once he had passed and rounded the corner at the end she release her breath and Goyle jumped up.

He took two steps at a time up the stairs and Hermione was struggling to keep herself balanced. She raised up much higher than she was used to being, she held tight to his robes to steady herself. He carried her like she almost weighed nothing at all, continuing up the stairs and towards the moving staircase.

She kept a lookout, watching for any signs of patrolling students and teachers. Managing to avoid another two more prefects they had made it to the grand staircase, careful not to wake any of the sleeping portraits along the walls, most emitted a slight snoring sound as the occupants slept. They had just made it to the fifth flight of stairs when the staircase begun to move. She could see the Fat Lady's portrait from here but now they couldn't get there this way until the stairs decided to move again.

Footsteps were coming down the fifth corridor in front of them. Again Hermione took charge and pointed down the stairs motioning the Slytherin to head back down to the fourth floor corridor to hide. He felt he was much better at following orders then making his own decisions, but thinking for himself rather than just doing as he was told had saved footsteps echoed on the stairs and through the fourth floor corridor.

"I know you're out there" The voice of the other student called out. Goyle's free hand flew out towards the first door finding it locked. He brought out his wand from his back pocket pointing it at the handle.

"Alohamora" he whispered, trying the lock again it still wouldn't budge. "Alohamora" he said more desperately. Still the door was locked.

"Where are you?" They heard the prefect call out. Hermione leant over grabbing his arm as he attempted to cast the spell again. He let her guide his arm and he whispered "alohamora" once more. The tell-tale click of the lock told him it had worked this time and rushed them inside the empty classroom. He placed her down on one of the desks and caught his breath. Hermione hoped this prefect wouldn't check out the hiding places and would assume they were still running. She had wanted to relock the door behind them but she had neither her wand nor her voice.

"Found yo- Goyle?" Hermione felt her heart stop. "Mate, I didn't know you had a girlfriend." The Slytherin Prefect Theodore Nott stood arms crossed in the doorway, smirking. "I don't think I know you. Are you a 7th year?" He asked her, she did her best to hide her face in the green and silver scarf and shook her head no hoping that would throw him off and he wouldn't recognise who she was. "Haha a shy one and younger too, Goyle you sly dog."

"Don't... Don't tell anyone." Goyle said finding his voice.

"Sure whatever, I won't say anything, I'm only out patrolling again because something happened in the common room. Now everyone's awake and I don't want to be caught out not doing my duties if Snape decides to come snooping around. Anyway, wouldn't want to take points from my own housemates, we're just in the lead this year. I'll leave to two alone." The prefect winked and left to resume his duties. She waited a little while to be sure he was gone then waved her hand gaining Goyle's attention. He instinctively scooped her up again but was at a loss at where to go.

"Uh Granger, how are we going to get up to the right floor now?" He waited for her to tell him what to do next but she said nothing. He looked up at her as she pointed at her mouth.

"Oh! Right..." He took out his wand again pointing it towards her but stopped. "It's probably not a good idea to have me do this...but I erh could have a go..." He saw her nod and squeeze her eyes shut, she knew he wasn't going to intentionally hurt her after putting in so much effort to get her away from the other Slytherins but she knew of his infamously terrible wand work.

Now more than ever he hoped to not screw up.

Hermione opened her eyes feeling the magic rush through her.

"You did it, Goyle, well done." Her eyes lit up as she praised him, relief washed over him. "If you could also maybe cast the counter-curse for the jinx on my legs too, please." He complied taking a moment to recall how to do so. When he was done she stretched out, he put her down and she took a few little unsteady steps. "Now, I know a secret passage that will lead us right to the 7th floor, just down this way."

He picked her up again, so as to move through the castle faster they couldn't risk being slowed by her unsure footing. He followed her directions, down halls and around corners till they reach what looked like a dead end. He might have said something if he was with anyone but Hermione Granger. He didn't know much, but she did, and that was enough for him to trust she had lead them to the right place.

He put her down once again and watched as she touched the wall, muttering to herself, things he didn't quite catch. The wall started to shift and a spiralling staircase came into view. She began to ascend the stairs and he followed close behind. There wasn't any reason to rush now since they didn't need to worry about being caught so he let her walk on her own.

Soon enough they were at the top, he saw candle light filtering through a section of the wall Hermione was already pushing out of the way to squeeze her way through. He moved behind her giving her a hand making the gap wide enough for her. She slipped through without a word and was off towards the Gryffindor Fat Lady portrait. He pressed his face to the small space but he couldn't see her anymore and decided to take the passage back down to fourth and to sneak his way back to the dungeons. He had taken no more than two steps when he felt a small soft hand hold onto his. He turned to see Hermione squeezing back through the gap.

"I thought you were behind me. Sorry I left you like that." He stared down at their joined hands, he wondered why she hadn't let go yet, and how her hands were so soft, were all girls hands this soft? She was talking but he wasn't hearing anything.

"-yle? Gregory Goyle?" The call of his name snapped him out of his thoughts. "I was just saying Thank you for what you did, I... I don't want to think about what would have happened back there if you didn't... and I wanted to know, why did you help me?" She held back tears at the thought of what could've happened, using all her Gryffindor bravery, she looked up at him waiting for his answer but he didn't know what to say. He looked away ashamed.

"I wasn't going to... It's only cause Draco and Theo turned up and I had to hide you. I was only going to do what he told me to do, even if I didn't like it. I'm sorry Granger, but don't thank me."

She took a deep breath in.

"I know." He didn't want to look at her, why was she still holding his hand? "I knew you only helped me because the opportunity presented itself but I want to know why, when that opportunity _did_ present itself, you took it." She was so much smaller than him and there was no way there was anything she could do without a wand that could force him to do anything but he knew if he didn't leave now he'd have to tell her. He took another step away trying to snatch his hand free.

"Please" that undid him.

"They were wrong." He said. "Blaise said that mud- erh... Your kind..."

"Muggleborns" she interjected

"...yeah that... muggleborns... He said they were stupid and disgusting... and fun to play with, but you're the smartest witch I've ever seen and the… and the prettiest and you're a mud- muggleborn... and you started to cry and it wasn't fun to see you scared or about to be hurt. I just don't know how m-muggleborns could be so bad if you are one of them. So I helped you get away." He still didn't want to look at her but he felt her grip on his hand tighten. His eyes rose up to her face. She was smiling with tears in her eyes, he didn't understand.

Her mind was racing, here in front of her, a pureblood wizard was questioning the prejudice of their world. She'd never pegged Goyle as an intellectual person but if he was beginning to see the faults in the old ways of thinking then she couldn't care less if he couldn't tie his own shoelaces.

"You don't know how glad I am to hear you say that and I know you don't think you deserve it but I still want to thank you." She let go of his hand and he instantly missed the feeling. Suddenly his nose was being tickled by loose curls and he was pulled into a one-sided hug. He stood stiff unsure of what to do. "What's wrong?" She sounded a little upset, she loosened her hold. Was there still something telling him she was dirty?

"I... It's just, no girls ever hugged me before... besides my mum. Erh... it's ... nice" he struggled to find his words but she smiled back up at him again. He was sure she could feel his heart thumping wildly in his chest.

"I have to get back to my dorm now... I'll see you around, goodnight" she said before squeezing once again through the gap in the wall.

"Night" he said lamely not sure if she could even hear him.

* * *

Safe inside the Gryffindor girls dormitory Hermione lied down on her bed still in the Slytherin clothing she'd been given. She looked over to Lavender sleeping soundly. Her breath hitched as she finally let herself recount about what had just occurred only an hour ago but didn't dare think about what could have happened, it could have been a lot worse, but that still didn't make her feel better. She turned to her side trying to only quietly sniffle as she closed her eyes.


	3. Trapped in a Stare

The next morning was so bright and beautiful, you'd never guess the horrors that were nearly committed last night. Hermione let herself lie in bed, she never did this, she was always up with the sun ready for her next exciting day learning at Hogwarts.

The safest place in the world.

Her eyes were unfocused, staring at the ceiling. She felt dull, grey, blurred… the room was basking in the warm glow of dawn, the deep mahogany bed frames, the glorious Gryffindor red and gold and there lay Hermione feeling none of it. She looked down at herself still dressed in her uniform, her shirt collar sitting unevenly as one of the buttons had been missed while rebuttoning them and her shoes were still on, dirtying the end of her bed. The green of the robes and scarf gave her skin look a sickly yellow. That green, it was the colour of that lounge, it was the colour of those drapes it was the colour of _that room_. She couldn't look at it anymore! She couldn't! it was fear, it was uncertainty, it was _HIM!_

She heard Parvati shift in her bed and darted up unwinding the scarf and shaking off the robe. She made room for them in the bottom of her trunk just as the girls began to wake.

"Geez, Hermione I'll never get how you can be up and ready this early." Mumbled Lavender rolling face down into her pillow again. She looked to the clock 7:53 she would already have checked her homework and class schedule by now, she'd have left to hand in parchment to her teachers and be in the Great Hall finishing off her breakfast. The minute hand ticked, 7:54 she sighed collected her bag and headed out. She stepped out onto the staircase and the Fat Lady's portrait closed behind her. In the early morning no one was there. She was alone on the staircase landing. Alone.

Alone like she was in the library, or thought she was. If Harry and Ron had been there…then maybe, maybe it wouldn't have happened. If she hadn't gone snooping around in the restricted section alone nothing would have happened. She would have been safe, but now… if she got caught alone by them again then they would… they would…

She spun on her heels to the portrait.

"Billywigs!" She shouted frightening the poor portrait. The door swung opened and she darted inside her breathing was heavy, her knees wobbling, she placed her hands over her face trying to focus on her breathing.

"Hermione?" Her head snapped up, "you don't look so good, are you ok?" Ginny asked, she just nodded in response. "No you're not, you look really awful, you're uniform is all messed up and you're hair... what's going on?"

"I-i no, you're right I don't feel very well, I've been feeling ill… just a cold probably. I'll be fine." She tried to smile.

"Why don't you have a quick shower and change into another uniform, it'll make you feel better." Her friend suggested. Now that she thought of it she was still in her clothes from yesterday and showering might wash away the way her skin crawled thinking about last night.

"Yeah yeah. I will." She mumbled dragging her feet along the ground towards the shower.

* * *

Now after her shower she was running late, well late for her. 8:12am and she would usually be in the Great Hall revising her textbooks for the upcoming lessons. She didn't even remember what lessons she had that day. What sounded like a small stampede coming from the boys dormitories interrupted her thoughts. Harry, Ron and Neville made their way into the common room buttoning their shirts and fixing their ties.

"Hermione! What are you doing here?" Harry said with an easy smile.

"Oh I thought I'd walk with you guys to breakfast." She smiled back hoping it was convincing enough. Ron, who was tightening and then untightening his tie to give himself purposefully dishevelled "cool guy" appearance, glanced up to give her a lopsided smile and a nod.

"Sure Hermione, we don't often get to walk with you." Said Neville, she smiled back and carefully surrounded herself with them. She fell into an easy conversation about plants with Neville, it was mostly him talking but he did know some interesting things she'd never heard of before. It made for a good distraction. She was feeling confident again, she would have almost sped off without them through the halls like she usually did, ready to learn. But every time she almost bumped into another person or strayed too close to the edge of the group her heart sunk. The Gryffindors navigated the staircase together and sat themselves down in front of a large pile of toast. Seamus and Dean joined them soon after, starting up talk of local Quidditch teams with Ron. Not long after Ginny along with Luna, who had decided that she would sit with Gryffindors today, squished in besides Dean, Ginny mentioned that she was looking better now, honestly she was feeling better. Surrounded by her friends she felt safe, she felt untouchable. Luna was looking at her a bit odd, and though she was an odd person, this seemed different.

"You seem a bit lost today, Hermione, your head is full of ?, which is strange for you. Usually it's just Harry." Luna said tilting her head

"Hey." Harry said To Luna, though she seemed to ignore him

"You might want to find out where your wand is before classes starts." Luna said once again demonstrating her unusual talent of knowing things she shouldn't. How? she had no idea.

"Your wand?" Asked Harry

"I must have left it in the Common Room while I was waiting for you." She lied.

"Are you feeling alright?" He asked concerned, Hermione was never forgetful.

"She's sick, she looked terrible this morning." Ginny butted in, "if you're still not feeling well you should go see Madam Pomfry."

"Yeah," she said wishing the conversation would end, "I think I will after breakfast."

"I'll walk you there." Harry offered, she was very thankful for that and nodded.

"Thank you."

"I'm telling you, the Chudley Cannons have got a shot this year." Ron said loudly after taking a sip of pumpkin juice. Immediately all attention was drawn away from her and was now focused on the redhead. She silently thanked him for shifting the topic away from her.

"Yeah, suuuuuure, maybe if they could get a few 'shots' in, then they'd have a shot." Seamus laughed

"Oh shut up." He said catapulting a bit of egg at the Irish boy with his fork, this earned a laugh from the group. Feeling slightly more like herself she straightened her back finger pointed out.

"Ronald Weasley!" He jumped back in his seat, "what would your mother think if she saw-" just for a second her eyes caught sight of someone over Ron's shoulder.

Him. Staring, just staring at her.

Blaine Zabini.

Sounds were muffled, thoughts gone. It felt like there was no oxygen in the air and he just kept staring. Her lungs began to burn but she couldn't breathe. She had forgotten how. The room was starting to blur in and out but he stayed in focus, his presence demanded it. His face was expressionless, so uncaring.

She was so cold, frozen in place, like all the happiness in the world had disappeared. Her skin was ice and she began to shiver. Still he held her in place with just his eyes.

It terrified her.

Then he blinked and turned away back to his breakfast.

"-mione! Bloody hell, Harry what do we do? She looks like she's about to pass out!" Ron desperately said, she felt so light headed. Harry could only look back at his friend mirroring his expression, he didn't know, he looked back to her he had his hands on her back keeping her upright and as she looked around at her friends she could see they were all on the edge of their seats ready to jump in and catch her if necessary.

' _Thats right'_ she thought ' _i'm safe here with my friends.'_ Ginny was up grabbing her hand tugging her upright.

"We're taking to Madam Pomfrey's." She said, Hermione could only nod. They carefully escorted her out of the Great Hall, she felt the eyes of thousands of students and the teachers, but she didn't dare look up for fear she would see him again.

* * *

The hospital wing matron flittered around the room as she cast various spells, mending bones and healing the wounds of her young wards. Finally she returned to Hermione.

"You're looking much better than when they brought you in, how are you feeling?" She asked

"I'm feeling much better Madam Pomfrey."

"That's good to hear dear. You should be able to catch the second half of your first class if you leave now." The mediwitch had smiled and walked off to her next patient before Hermione could reply. Slowly she stood, put her shoes back on and grabbed her bag. She stood by the door taking a deep breath in and stepped out into the corridor. She kept her head down as walked. She had read her timetable while in the hospital wing and knew she should head to her charms class.

'Everyone is in class, no one is out here.' She said to herself, trying to calm her nerves. She knew she would be ok, she knew that nothing could happen to her in broad daylight but that still didn't ease her mind as she rounded another corner and then.

Green!

She was knocked back and on the floor, her heart dropped.

It was _him_.

He had found her.

She froze.

"Oh uuurh, I didn't mean to do that." She knew that voice. The same one who had saved her. She was safe. She took a second to breathe again and stood herself up. "Sorry Granger." He said shifting from one foot to the other.

"It's alright Greg, I wasn't looking where I was going." He jumped slightly at the use of his given name, unsure how to respond."What are you doing out here anyway? Classes have already started, you shouldn't be out wandering the halls." Her true Hermione nature blossoming once again.

"Uh, your wand." He said shoving his hand into his pocket. Her wand, she had felt so lost, so vulnerable without it. "Vince left it on his trunk, so I took it." He pulled out two wands, hers and his own and then spent a few seconds turning them around so the handle was facing her. Hermione felt her magic filling her with a warmth as she gently touched her vine wood wand. The corner of her mouth twitched, uncontrollably tugging upwards now that the wand was firmly in her grip.

"Thank you." She whispered, "thank you so much." She looked up at him grinning wide. Greg was taken aback, she was smiling at him again. His poor heart was about to burst through his chest. He was still recovering from the hug from last night, and then her eyes started to water. Why was she always crying when she smiled at him? She held her wand to her chest, letting the tears run down her cheeks. She was still looking up at him. Merlin, he wasn't sure what to do now. He just wanted to give her wand back so she'd be happy with him again and she was, but he hadn't thought what to do after that.

"Welcome." He mumbled. "...uh, you… you've got…" he gestured to his own face, trying his best to show tears.

"Oh, thanks." Wiping her face on her sleeves, she flicked her wand, casting a glamour to rid herself of the redness of her eyes. "How do I look?" She asked.

Merlin, help him. "Nice…" he offered, cringing. Girls liked big proclamations of their beauty didn't they? That made them happy. ' _Nice isn't enough'_. What does Pansy call herself? A 'Gorgeous Goddess'. He should have said that. She would have smiled at him again, but she just nodded.

"Ok." She sniffed a little. "I've got to get to class now, and you do, Charms right?" She said.

"Uh… yeah I think." Honestly he didn't really know nor did he want to go to class. She did though, and she was waving him over to her, she wanted to walk with him and so they walked in a comfortable silence through the corridors and to the classroom door.

Hermione gasped, hand inches from the door handle. She then brought her wand out of her pocket handing it over to him. "Last night, you told them I stole your wand. They can't see me with my own wand now." She said dejectedly. He stared down at her and took the lightly coloured wand from her. She looked so distraught at the thought of giving her wand away after finally getting it back. She'd been so happy before. Then in another rare flash of brilliance he had an idea.

"You take my wand." Greg said fishing out his own wand from his pocket. "...and I'll take yours. Then you can expelliarmus it out of my hand in the corridor in front of Blaise after class. Then he can't ask questions of how you got it back." Greg said.

"Greg you're brilliant. Let's do that you go to class first, I'll follow and say I was just let out of the hospital wing." He felt warmth spreading across his face. She ducked out of sight and he opened the classroom door.


End file.
